(Answered) Using Battlearmor weapons on Mechs (conversion/salvage rules)?

[Avimimus]

Hello,

Are there any rules limiting the mounting of battlearmor weapons on battlemechs?

Some weapons, like the Magshot gauss rifle, have both Battlearmor and Battlemech versions. The Mech versions are heavier (I'm assuming it has to do with feeds, housings and targeting equipment for the less maneuverable mech).

I was wondering if a standard conversion ratio that can be applied when doing this?

There are some situations where mounting a cluster of such salvage would be useful (similar to using chemical lasers or vehicular flamers on Mechs).

Thank you,

[Paul]

No, they're distinct items, with distinct rules concerning what can and cannot be installed. You're of course welcome to do as you please in your own games.

[Avimimus]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I'll go ahead using my own judgment..

It'd certainly help if we could get an official standardised way of doing this! The values are a bit too diverse and need rationalisation.


An initial inspection:

Damage / Kilogram ratios show that Battle Armor weapons have highly variable efficiency gains compared to the equivalent mech based weapon (once adjusted for different damage rates).

Battle Armour weapons are more efficient by approximately the following ratios:
MG      10x
SRM     6x
SLAS    6x
Magshot 3.4x
Rocket Launcher 3x
Flamer  2.6x
LRM     2.6x
MLAS    1x (0.6x when heatsinks weight is included)

These would be the approximate modifiers required to make the weapons have the same weight per point of damage as their longer range mech based equivalents. I suspect that a standard:
- 2.6x (3.6x if ammunition based) would be used for the mech versions. If the technology predates 3050 as there have been enough elapsed time to miniaturize the battlearmour/infantry versions by a greater ratio (i.e. 5.2x or 7.2x), but the mech based armoured mountings take up the same room regardless. It might just be easier to say that a typical conversion rack rounds to about 0.5 tons for six weapons (but can climb to 1 ton if the weapons are heavier than 500 kg).
- Each installation can carry six Battle-Armour weapons to a Battlemech crit. However, if such weapons require their own integrated heat-sinks, then each additional heatsink replaces one of the weapon slots (e.g. a Battle-Armour medium laser would take up 1 crit, as it would contain the weapon and five racks of heat sinks).
- Ammunition supplies are equal to those of the unit from which the weapon was originally salvaged (i.e. whatever the auto-loader / magazines contained). All launchers are considered to contain ammunition/energy packs in their compartment and cannot benefit from CASE.
- A +1 to hit modifier is added to all weapons due to the improvised nature of the installations.